Cuco Martina - Signs Two Year Deal (Official)

Surely we can use our own academy players as cover rather than importing filler.

Surely we can use our own academy players as cover rather than importing filler.

obviously not

Makes sense to sign a back up right back. Having watched the youth team on a number of occasions, RB is the only area of the pitch that I wouldn't trust our lad in the first team. Oh and maybe goalkeeper too...

Twente fans are laughing their ass off and even offer to personally drop him off at the St. Mary's. Their fans state (http://www.voetbalzone.nl/doc.asp?uid=249823) that he is mediocre, even for Twente standards.

Reminds me of when we signed big Jos.

That black box seems massively dominated by players the Koemans have worked with previously.

..is that a criticism, or a compliment ?

Why are people upset he is a full international, for gods sake, who has been capped 20 times by the Dutch Caribbean island of Curacao...........

......yeah I had to look on google maps and wiki to:p

Why are people upset he is a full international, for gods sake, who has been capped 20 times by the Dutch Caribbean island of Curacao...........

 

 

......yeah I had to look on google maps and wiki to:p

Based on this will he even get a work permit with the new rules or is it different for players who have lived in the EU for a period of time?

Based on this will he even get a work permit with the new rules or is it different for players who have lived in the EU for a period of time?

He was born in Rotterdam and has a Dutch passport. He qualifies for Curacao through his parents.

FFS isn't it about time we trusted the Koeman's ?

They haven't let us down yet, the iffy players have only been loans so it was a no lose situation.

If they think he is good enough as cover then I would take their opinion over anyone here.

Koeman said he's a utility defender and he's played LB in the past, though I don't know if its his best position. All I know is that there's a link between Bertrand's surgery and his arrival. Whether its specifically to beef the LB position or provide general defensive cover is anyone's guess.

Koeman said it was to increase numbers of defenders, as will the second player they are planning to bring in. We are light defensively, in terms of numbers. Made worse by Targett not being back for pre-season until next week.

Think Marko Jovanovic of Wisla Krakow is one we have been looking at.

Cheap squad filler. Used to play for Erwin.

Can play across the back 4 which obviously appeals.

jizz your pants did ya ?

Southampton betaalt 1,5 miljoen euro aan FC Twente voor Martina bit.ly/1JJHll6 pic.twitter.com/MZXskfFGyk

6:47pm - 6 Jul 15

So, what's that? Under £1m. Only a 2 year contract apparently, so very little risk involved what so ever.

Moisander, Bjelland, van Beek, Rekik, Kongolo, Botteghin, Kashia, Viergever, Bruma, Isimat, Otigba, van der Werff, Sainsbury, van Aken, Bijker, Peters, Bengtsson, Fischer, Leeuwin.

 

Not to spoil the fun, but the list above are Eredivisie centre backs who are either better or have performed better last season than Martina imo.

 

Twente fans are laughing their ass off and even offer to personally drop him off at the St. Mary's. Their fans state (http://www.voetbalzone.nl/doc.asp?uid=249823) that he is mediocre, even for Twente standards.

What is the actual Dutch for 'I'll drive him there myself'?

Southampton betaalt 1,5 miljoen euro aan FC Twente voor Martina bit.ly/1JJHll6 pic.twitter.com/MZXskfFGyk

6:47pm - 6 Jul 15

 

So, what's that? Under £1m. Only a 2 year contract apparently, so very little risk involved what so ever.

The risk is that he's ****e and we lose games as a result.

Can I be the first to use the term "Moneyball" on this thread please?

Can I be the first to use the term "Moneyball" on this thread please?

Don't be such a bore, 'Footstats' is where it's at now.

The Feyenoord account @KuipTalk said "he hasn't impressed me tbh".

#opinions

We still need cover for the extra Europa cup games (loads of them obviously ;-) ) and for at least the early English cup rounds, and young defenders often take longer to mature so U21s may not be ready. This seems to be a very sensible purchase. Who'se the current reserve RB - Bevis Mugabe? Some promise but not really ready.(If he's LB the same principle applies..)

What is the actual Dutch for 'I'll drive him there myself'?

The comment on 13:31 for instance says '' bied ik aan hem zelf te brengen en doe ik er ook nog eens strik omheen'' which translates into something like ''I'll offer to bring him myself and I'll even put a bow tie (what you put on presents, it is a Dutch expression that you really want to get rid off something) around him''.

I can provide you with more translations if you want... the top comments are a bit harsh already:

''Heh? Voor het tweede elftal zeker? Sorry maar hier snap ik vrij weinig van..'' Huh? I assume for the reserve squad? Sorry but I can barely understand this..

FC Ghalid6 juli 2015 om 13:27

Martina is leuk voor op de bank bij Southampton... Maar basis no way! Martina is nice for the Southampton bench, but first squad no way!

wandering6 juli 2015 om 13:31

Zelfs voor de bank vind ik hem niet goed genoeg, hier snap ik dus werkelijk waar helemaal niets van. Even for the bench he isn't good enough... I truly don't understand anything of thisi

ohwohwohw6 juli 2015 om 13:45

Maar toch. ... deze jongen was afgelopen seizoen echt dra-ma-tisch! Still, this guy was dra-ma-tic last season!

brabants6 juli 2015 om 14:19

In zijn tijd bij RBC was hij wekelijks de slechtste speler van het veld. RBC speelde tegen degradatie naar de Topklasse, als je dan de slechtste bent ben je ook wel erg slecht toch? In his RBC time he was the worst players on the pitch every week. RBC battled relegation to the Topklasse, if you are the worst then you must be really bad isn't it? Topklasse is the 3rd level btw after Eredivisie and Jupiler League. Level comparable to Conference Premier at best.

difference096 juli 2015 om 14:00

Onbegrijpelijke keuze van koeman zou dat dan zijn. Of hij wilt twente graag een handje helpen. Dat zou dan zeer aardig zijn. Unbelieveable choice of Koeman this would be. Or he likes to help Twente (they struggle financially). That would be kind!

Sjakie Wonders6 juli 2015 om 14:38

Hoort dit niet onder het rubriekje " In de wandelgangen" , kan niet geloven dat Ronald Koeman dit zou overwegen. Er zijn zoveel betere verdedigers te vinden dan Martina. Zowel verdedigend als opbouwend zeer zwak deze jongen komt zwaar te kort voor het nivo wat Southampton nastreeft. Shoudn't this be placed in the ''rumours'' section? I can't believe Ronald Koeman would even consider this. There are so many better defenders out there than Martina. Both defending and build up play is very weak and this guy isn't anywhere near the level Southampton is aiming for.

twentefan27 juli 2015 om 08:36

Koeman heeft een kratje Grolsch op denk ik zo haha I think Koeman drank an entire crate of Grolsch (Dutch beer) haha

Me and probably everyone watching Eredivisie every week don't understand this move. I really hope he does amazing for you guys, but I have never seen any indication why he would suddenly do that. Remember, Eredivisie is a lower level than BPL, Twente had a really, really, ****ty season and he did not stand out there, not even close. Just trying to imply the general impression of him in the Netherlands. Voetbalzone is the largest football community site here with people (supporting many different Dutch clubs) who watch loads and loads of national and international football. Usually their comments are pretty accurate.

But he is available for a cheap fee, probably cheap wages, can cover 3 positions and is probably happy to be a backup. I guess that is the attraction.

He will probably be 2nd or 3rd choice RB, 3rd or 4th choice LB and 5th choice CB (possibly 6th if Stephens or Turnbull have a good pre season).

Sounds fantastic

Well we've been led to believe that the fabled black box judges how a player will fit in amongst our current players.

Given the reaction to the Dutch fans, we can only assume that as a complement to Targett, Bertrand, gardos, Yoshida, fonte and Cedric he works.

Thanks for the round up Saint031.

Sounds like a complete dud from all of those opinions of the guy... Still, in Ronald we trust! (Maybe skip this one though eh, Ron?)

Have heard Spurs have sent a delegation to try and halt this move

fairly sure this transfer must be erwin's work....ronald would never go for him.

ERWIN OUT

Well I am not trying to completely destroy the guy on here, but I am just warning not to expect much. Of course, everyone deserves a fair chance and once again I hope he does well. In the second article, about Koeman confirming Soton's interest (http://www.voetbalzone.nl/doc.asp?uid=249839) the comments are even worse so I'll keep you away from those haha.

I assume Martina will be used as fullback. In the centre he is way too unreliable. But if Koeman wants a back-up center back, this is what I would have recommended Southampton: either take Botteghin (https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Botteghin), although he lacks a bit of pace, for 1.5 mil GBP or take Jan-Arie van der Heijden (https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan-Arie_van_der_Heijden). Forgot to mention him in the list. Contract ends so he is free, wants to go abroad and is a very decent defender Eredivisie top 6 clubs (such as Vitesse).

Have heard Spurs have sent a delegation to try and halt this move

Not quite, they have sent a delegation to make sure it goes through

I don't follow Dutch footie but I saw Twente had a average season,just remember Bertrand was garbage at villa when he was on loan there and he was arguably are one of the most consistent players for us last season and now looks a steal...just hope this guy will be decent with better players/coaches around him

Cover, Bertrand has just had an op on both knees and will be out for six weeks

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/jul/06/southampton-cuco-martina-transfer-ryan-bertrand-surgery

This thread....

can't find how to post videos but thought this summed it up nicely

Does anyone know why Bertrand has had surgery on his knees? hopefully nothing that could cause a recurring injury.

Does anyone know why Bertrand has had surgery on his knees? hopefully nothing that could cause a recurring injury.

I just wonder when it came to light that he needed surgery ? Shame it wasn't back at the end of May !

Does anyone know why Bertrand has had surgery on his knees? hopefully nothing that could cause a recurring injury.

I think it's weird how he needs it on both knees - either a hereditary / genetic thing or was he a naughty boy on holiday and did something he shouldn't be doing? Or just a freak accident? But both knees at the same time is strange.

Cuco Martina ‏@CucoMartina 3m3 minutes ago

Officially a @SouthamptonFC player! Thanks to the club for their faith in me and thanks to @P4P_Int_Seg for the support #saintsfc

He's just confirmed signing on his twitter

Aaaaaand he's deleted the tweet. Slap on the wrist for Cuco me thinks.

Aaaaaand he's deleted the tweet. Slap on the wrist for Cuco me thinks.

Great, not only does he sound ****, he's stupid.

Over the last few seasons here on TSF we've been writing off new players as late as September, so I'm pleased we're doing our writing off nice and early this year.

Welcome aboard. Not all our fans are ungrateful dinlo's.

Could be a nice squad player.

Welcome to Saints Cuco!

Know nothing about him but have the utmost faith in our recruitment team.

Pleased to have more cover in the squad. Did he play alongside Tadic at Twente?

Pleased to have more cover in the squad. Did he play alongside Tadic at Twente?

Yes.

Certainly not a WOW signing, but more cover in the squad can't be a bad thing. Welcome Cuco.

Mugabi injured as well as Bertrand so with Clyne gone and Targett not back in pre-season until next week, and only 3 contracted first team CBs the need to pull in some cover is paramount with so many games coming up in the next few weeks. I'm sure Martina will be a good squad player, if the Koemans (Koemen?) think he will be.

@WhoScored: Cuco Martina: Only 1 full-back with more than 20 Eredivisie apps last season averaged fewer tackles per game than Martina (1.3)